

The instructor can easily correct whenever you do something wrong, Unless touchy conditions, there are not much risks to let a "newbie" takeoff such basic instruction aircraft.
#PIPER SARATOGA FLIGHT SIMULATOR MAC HOW TO#
Nobody'll expect you to taxi perfectly the aircraft, you're not supposed to know how to do it, but the instructor will give you directions and wants to check how good he can establish contact with you, how you react, how you handle. One of the first tests is ground taxi where the instructor will gauge you. Now, how much the instructor let's you do really during initiation flight very much depends on alchemy, how s/he "feels" you. That's typically what we call initiation flight and the goal is really that the person to initiate gets a feel of the aircraft and how to handle her. Most "flight management" tasks request frequent training to keep fluent and up-to-date, and that's where a simulator can be very helpful if used properly.īack to your flight with an instructor. That's what you train in the first hours of PPL preparation. The pilot's job is to manage all aspects of his flight : aviate, navigate, communicate => manage the flight from A to Z, keep situation awareness.Īll those tasks request a lots of pilot's attention and skills, while holding the aircraft in flight should really be a background routine that don't request much brain CPU. It's quite like bicycle, once you've learned you never really loose it. Holding the aircraft in flight is the pilot's top priority, but that's not a task that requests much brain skills. It's therefore seldom the case that a simulator's aim is to learn how to handle an aircraft. In many ways flying for real is easier to me than in the sim, because I feel exactly how much pressure I need to apply on that pedal/stick, while in the sim I apply a force against a fix spring without relationship with flight physics. That's the most disturbing aspect when you start learning to fly for real after years of simming, but you quickly get used to it. What you'll ever miss in a sim are the feelings of flight that no sim can recreate, even moving platforms and force feedback.

You'll never replace real flight hours by simming, but you can build up a real, sound aeronautical culture that'll be helpful. Regarding whether you can learn to fly with a sim whichever it is, the answer is a mix of yes and no. The opposite way is more seldom despite a sim definitely can bring much to a pilot, but there's a strong generational effect coupled with usually a very conservative mindset towards novelty, I'm one of these and I cheer the memories of that late afternoon some 12 years ago when I climbed for the very first time aboard a venerable WWII Piper L4 and flew her by myself with an instructor just giving directions and ready to take over whenever something went wrong, but he never touched the controls. One could draw long listings of simmers that went to real flying after eventually pushing the door of the next air-club. Watch out, aerovirus are way more contagious and virulent than coronavirus! That grin on your face is a typical symptom!

If you're in the same situation as me I'd recommend some real world experience. It completely exceeded my expectations and I haven't fully come down to earth yet. I may have had my feet on terra firma for the rest of the day but my head was on cloud 9.

He said the landing was a "little firm" (which it was!) and he would have landed it like a butterfly with sore feet. No complicated joining of a circuit, we just approached on an angle right of base as the tower instructed and I took it straight in. I was even more amazed when he told me I would be landing it. I managed to hold bearings and altitudes pretty well with a few reminders. Once airborne I then basically flew the thing for the next hour under his direction. Also I didn't realise you don't use the rudder once you have some speed up. I was surprised how much extra pull was needed on the yoke but otherwise it behaved as I expected. We thought he was joking - me and my wife sat nervously in the back. We paused for some control tower chat then he told me I'd be doing the take off. He put me left seat and gave me the job of following the taxiway line out to the runway. I didn't make a big deal of my simming but the instructor asked about my hobbies so I said "tennis and messing around with simulators". Last Friday I had an hour's "trial flight" in a Piper Warrior, a Christmas present from my wife. Not much compared to many but I did wonder if it would make a difference in the real world. The only simulator I have used is AFS2 and since 2016 I've notched up a few hundred hours.
